Dole Food Company, the world's largest producer of fruit and vegetables, has revealed a five-yr plan to expand its adoption of distributed ledger technology, or DLT, for supply chain tracking.

Dole'southward blockchain expansion was announced in its 2022 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report.

Dole offset began to explore DLT after joining IBM'due south Nutrient Trust as a founding member in 2022.

Dole to launch DLT tracing in all divisions past 2025

The report announces that Dole will comprehensively overhaul its food tracing systems, including the goal of integrating blockchain-based product-tagging and advanced traceability solutions into all of its divisions by 2025.

Dole already utilizes blockchain throughout its supply chain for salads and fresh vegetables, and has shared its information with select retail customers since 2022.

"Blockchain cuts the boilerplate time needed for nutrient condom investigations from weeks to mere seconds," states Dole.

"Produce that's been logged via blockchain can be instantly tracked back through the supply chain, giving retailers and consumers conviction in the result of a recall," the report adds.

Food producers trial consumer-facing QR-code scanning

The written report states that security measures are built into the system to prevent retailers participating in its blockchain program from exposing valuable proprietary information to other entities in the network.

Dole also announced plans to launch a consumer-facing characteristic allowing shoppers to scan each package of salad or vegetables to access detailed information recorded beyond the production's supply concatenation:

"Eventually, consumers will be able to scan each bag of salad or package of vegetables in-store to go information about its journey from farm to shop shelf."

On April 6, beau-IBM food trust member, Nestlé, appear it would expand its use of DLT to print QR codes on the packaging for its premium coffee brand, Zoégas. Consumers can now trace select blends dorsum to farms and roasters in Brazil, Rwanda, and Colombia.

Ethical egg producer, Farmer's Hen House, launched a like program in partnership with blockchain nutrient tracing firm, Bytable. They began printing QR-codes on egg cartons in mid-April that allow consumers to trace the origin of their eggs.